Inzamam-ul-Haq Quotes

You can get suckered into believing you have to always be attacking with the bat, ball or fielding positions. But Test cricket is not always like that. There are times when it is a bit slow paced and even a bit boring.

It is easy to get carried away in this Twenty20 era and think Test cricket has to be entertaining all the time.

I respect Test cricket a lot. Once I got into the Test team, I learnt so much about international cricket and realised it's not so different.

I've always felt that when I've been successful in red-ball cricket it has been because I've left the ball well and sometimes in cricket the shots you don't play are more important than the ones you do.

I am trying to take my ODI confidence to Test cricket.

Call me traditional, but Test cricket is the most important thing.

This is Test cricket. Being positive is not far away from being reckless. For all that the sport has become more fast-flowing and entertaining, you still need batsmen whose first instinct is to be patient.

I always found one-day cricket a lot harder. I had to change my game.

A disciplined, patient, defensive period in a Test match is not old fashioned and boring - it's essential.

In Test cricket, you have to be adaptable.

When you know that batting will be tough, that the ball might move around and your technique will be tested, you have to make sure that you don't give the bowlers any more advantages.

The history of Test cricket will suggest if you hold the top of off longer than anyone else you will have success, in England particularly it's about owning the top of off.

I think Test cricket is the ultimate form of cricket.

I wasn't sure of the exact mindset you should have when you go into a Test match. So I probably became too defensive when I played my first Test match. Short balls in one-day cricket, I have never thought of just defending.

I am not a great fan of computers. I do watch videos and analyse which batsman is playing how. Batsmen can play different shots on different days. A batsman may not play cover drives well, but if he connects with two such shots, he starts playing the drive well on that day.

One-day cricket is about aggression and flair, but Test cricket is a different ball game. One has to struggle through the hard periods initially and then look on to get a respectable score on the board.

Whenever I have played a game of cricket, whether it is under-16, under-19, or State level, my approach has been the same.

Test cricket tests your ability as a cricketer but also bring out your true character.

When I was growing up, I played a lot of ten- and 12-over games, and I would bat in the middle order. I got only ten-odd balls to face, and I tried to score as much as I could. I applied the same approach in domestic and international cricket, and people were appreciating my strike rate being more than 80 or 90 in Test cricket.

I know Test cricket is more about endurance. T20 is more about innovating, creating, and the energy at the wicket.

In the past, I bowled at players like Michael Atherton, Alec Stewart, Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick.

That is one of the great things about Test cricket, the ball. Sometimes it swings conventionally, sometimes it doesn't and sometimes it reverses.

The stats suggest that I'm not a dasher. It doesn't mean I can't play the shots, but when you find a method in four-day and Test cricket that works for you, you stick with it.

As an opening batsman, it's my responsibility to spend as much time in the middle as I can and try and get big scores in the first innings so that we don't have to bat in the second innings.

Pressure is the biggest single factor in Test cricket.